November 9th, 2010

In the beginning of October, I recently started co-leading a 200hr Teacher Training program for Pure Yoga Studio with another Los Angeles based Yoga Teacher, Ashley Turner. The Pure Yoga Teacher Training program was created by Alanna Kaivalya.

Pure Yoga is a large studio that originated in Asia. It has now expanded to America with two locations in New York and plans to expand Nationwide. Pure Yoga has partnered with Equinox Fitness Club and this Teacher Training program is being hosted at Equinox Fitness Club in Century City and South Bay, California, as well as in several other regions around the country.

We are 4 weeks into the 10 week program, and it has been an incredible journey so far. We meet with the 17 Trainees on Friday evenings and most of Saturday and Sunday. We have a really amazing group. We have a few Teachers who are assisting us in the program and we've brought in guest Teacher Trainers from New York as well.

This past weekend our Anatomy Module was led by Maura Barclay from fellow Manduka Ambassador, Jill Miller's, Yoga Tune Up program. It was a pretty great weekend! I've been in a lot of Anatomy Training's in the past and this was one of the best I've ever seen. So far the Training has been very intense. This is my first time leading a Teacher Training program and it definitely requires more of you than leading public classes or working with private clients. The time and energy commitments are huge, but well worth it.

On Sunday nights, after the Training is finished I am usually pretty exhausted, but it's so inspiring though. The work is very fulfilling and I like the challenge. I like being pushed out of my circle of comfort. It's been wonderful to see the students in the program grow and to work with them at such a deep level has been great.

They are having breakthroughs that probably wouldn't be happening if they were just attending regular public classes. The program is designed to really push them and challenge them. They are really being forced to move out of their own comfort zones and we are doing our best to hold the space for them. They are learning so much about themselves and this experience will probably change their lives, whether they go on to become yoga teachers or not. That's the amazing thing about yoga. It has an impact on every area of your life. It's not just what you are doing on your yoga mat. Maybe it starts out that way for a lot of people but eventually the practice really starts to transform who you are, or who you thought you were.

This is a really well-rounded Training program. Pure Yoga's intention is to honor all different styles of yoga. This 200hr program draws mainly from the Iyengar and Ashtanga traditions but is all about inclusion instead of exclusion. One of the things that attracted me to the program is the amount of teaching the Trainees actually get to do. It's incredible. We have them teaching to each other right from the first day of the program and that's exciting. Pretty much everything they learn from us we then ask them to teach to each other.

This is to prepare them to stand in front of a class and connect with their students, especially if they decide to go on to become teachers. We(the trainers) had all been involved in other Teacher Training Programs in the past that we felt didn't offer the students many opportunities to teach, and this was something we wanted to do differently with this program. After four weeks of training with them teaching something new every day, I'm convinced this is essential to a program of this kind.

In order to teach something you really have to understand it. You have to know what you are talking about to effectively communicate to your students. There's no better way for us to help our Trainees see their blindspots than to have them get on their feet and teach what they have just learned and then to receive feedback from each other. I think it's been an incredible journey for Ashley and I as well as for the Trainees. I think we are being challenged as much as they are to dig a little deeper into our own practice and into our own ability to communicate what we know. It's been a pretty incredible experience, and I'm looking forward to the next 6 weeks of the program. After that, I will probably be looking forward to a week off!